AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress and What it Revealed About Stan Culture

United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made major headlines this past September when she attended the 2021 Met Gala. The event was themed “In America,” which prompted AOC to wear a white dress with the words “Tax the Rich” painted in large red print on the back. 

Not even minutes after AOC made her Met Gala debut, backlash was already piling in. Many leftists felt that AOC’s dress was hypocritical, as the Met Gala is a millionaire studded event and tickets cost upwards of $35,000 each. Others felt that because AOC likely did not pay for her ticket, the attention she was bringing to the “Tax the Rich” movement was worth attending the questionable event.

Ever since hearing about her, I have been an AOC supporter. Her down-to-earth personality mixed with her intellect and morals makes her a politician I respect, and more than that, a woman I look up to. That being said, I cannot ignore that while I completely and loudly support the Tax the Rich campaign, AOC’s dress is hypocritical at best, and damaging at worst. Yes, it brought attention to an extremely important cause, but not all press is good press. Those who do not support taxing the rich are not going to take the movement more seriously because it was painted on the back of a dress at the Met Gala. 

However, there is something to be said for staying on theme for the gala itself. The Tax the Rich movement is an American issue (as is controversy), so she hit the nail on the head in regards to staying on theme— which is more than can be said for other attendees (Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, I’m looking at you).

Nevertheless, her dress and the backlash it received warrants a deeper conversation. We cannot and should not “stan” politicians. We cannot blindly support them the way we do celebrities like Timothée Chalamet (though that introduces the question, is “stanning” in general ethical?). Politicians are not static, nor are the issues that we care about. There is a fine but deeply important line between stanning a politician and supporting one, often blurred by the media. It is when we begin to idolize them that our support crosses a dangerous line.

Politicians hold the power of policies in their hands, which makes holding them accountable critically important. As Sara Li from Teen Vogue puts it, “to put our politicians on pedestals or treat them as infallible is to set them, and us, up for failure and disappointment.” We have to stop pretending perfect politicians exist. They don’t. Politicians are humans, humans who make policies that affect the welfare of our communities, but humans nonetheless. It is crucial that we call them out and comment on the flaws in their actions. I can be a Democratic Socialist who supports AOC and still call her out when I think she has made a mistake. In fact, it is consequential that I do so. Politicians are our representatives; it is their job to make and enforce policies that benefit the American people. I believe that you should support the politicians who care about the issues that are important to you, but hold them accountable and call them out when their actions are damaging. 

AOC is a human, and she made, as we all do, a mistake. That doesn’t mean that she is corrupt or that we should “cancel” her. She is not a celebrity (as much as we may see her as one). She is a politician who holds the wellbeing of large groups of people—many of them marginalized—in her hands. It does not do her or us any good to pretend otherwise.

BY ELIORA ABRAMSON